1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety system used in motor vehicles for protection of passengers in the motor vehicle from side impact collisions. In particular, the invention relates to a system used in automotive vehicles for lifting the outboard side of a seat upwardly when a collision results in impact of the side of the motor vehicle.
2. State of the Art
Restraint devices for restraining occupants of automotive vehicles involved in frontal collisions are of course well known. Such systems employ seat belts and more recently developed air bags which are inflated rapidly in response to a collision. Seat and shoulder belts restrain the occupant and inflated air bags provide a cushioning restraint for the occupants from impact with the steering wheel, instrument panel and windshield of the vehicle. For examples of air bag systems see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,642,303; 3,758,133 and 4,097,065.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,291, issued Dec. 21, 1976, a safety device for the seat of a motor vehicle is suggested wherein in the event of a front end collision, the seat rotates or tilts backwardly along an axis transverse of the longitudinal axis of the motor vehicle. The tilting seat allegedly presses the passenger within the tilted, V-shaped form resulting from the tilting of the seat and restrains the passenger from being accelerated forwardly against the dashboard, steering column and windshield. The tilting seat of U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,291 would offer no advantage in a side impact collision.
The devices discussed previously, including seat belts, inflatable restraint systems and rearwardly tilting seats of the prior art, generally do little to provide essential protection to an occupant of a vehicle during accidents involving impact of the side of the vehicle. During side impact collisions, seat belts and air bags do little more than prevent occupants from impacting each other and prevent total ejection of an occupant from the vehicle. The rearwardly tilting seat, unless used with seat belts has little or no benefit in a side impact collision. In a side impact collision the occupant is subject to dangerous contact with the side of the vehicle next to which the occupant is seated, and the distinct possibility exists of the impacting vehicle penetrating and making impact with the chest and abdomen area of the occupant. Conventional restraint systems have not adequately addressed these problems.
Some limited protection in side impact collisions is afforded by conventional padding applied to the interior surfaces of the side panel, but space and comfort limitations along the interior of the side panel preclude use of sufficient padding depth to be of significant value in a moderate-to-severe accident. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,667, it was proposed to provide a housing recessed in a side panel of a vehicle, with the housing having an open side facing the interior of the vehicle. An elastomeric, stretchable membrane was secured over the open side of the housing, having its peripheral edges sealed to the housing. In a collision, gas under pressure was delivered to the housing to expand the membrane toward the interior of the vehicle to form a cushion for the torso of an occupant seated adjacent thereto. The system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,667, however, provides only cushioning of the occupants' body. There is no attempt at elevating the occupant and moving the occupant away from the side of the impacted vehicle so as to minimize injury due to hitting the side of the impacted vehicle or of being struck by the impacting vehicle if the impacting vehicle penetrates the side of the impacted vehicle.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,388, an air bag restraint system which can be deployed relatively instantaneously from the side panel of the vehicle to offer essentially immediate padding and restraint for the entire flank of the occupant seated adjacent to such side panel. An attempt is made to initiate movement of the occupant away from the impacted side of the vehicle, but there is no suggestion of elevating the passenger such that impact between the passenger and his own vehicle or between the passenger and the impacting vehicle will be in the area of the underside of the buttocks of the passenger rather than the passenger's chest and thorax or at least lower on the body than would have otherwise taken place.